


No Day But Today [1/4]

by easefuldays



Series: Rent AU [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/F, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-12
Updated: 2013-02-12
Packaged: 2017-11-29 01:06:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/680940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/easefuldays/pseuds/easefuldays
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A RENT AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Day But Today [1/4]

_December 24 th 1989\. 9PM EST. From here on in, I shoot without a script. See if anything comes of it, instead of my old shit._

**Part One**

Liam came home on Christmas Eve to find Louis sitting on the counter writing. A song, presumably.

“Did you see this?” Liam asked, holding up a flyer that read in big letters “ **EVICTION OR PAY”**

**“** I chose to ignore it, like I do most obnoxious things in life” Louis said, looking from the flyer back to his paper.

“What happened to us being ‘Golden’?” Liam complained, plopping down on the couch, which gave an exacerbated sigh. The poor couch, it’s been through a lot. Hadn’t they all.

“Apparently that turned to bullshit, like everything else, when Simon got married to that bitch. What was her name again?” Louis asked, closing his paper and getting up to join Liam on the couch.

“Amy or something?” Liam asked. Louis shrugged.

“Regardless, we’re still stuck paying rent we can’t afford to an asshole that, quite frankly, doesn’t need it.” Louis concluded, lifting his legs so they now rested on Liam’s.

“Amen to that.” Liam confirmed, lifting up an imaginary glass. As if they could afford drinks.

Before they could continue to bitch and moan, however, the phone rang. Miracle that their phone still worked, but it was Christmas Eve after all.

Liam gave Louis a confused look, before he bounded off the couch to pick up the ringing phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Niall!” A thick Irish accent replied.

“Niall!” Liam exclaimed.

“I’m downstairs, throw me the keys!”

Liam hung up, motioned for Louis, and the two went out to the balcony to find that, sure enough, Niall was standing there waving like a fool. Louis cheered, waving to his friend as Liam through down the keys.

“Be up in a mo!” Niall called, catching the keys with grace.

~

It felt good to be back in New York and Niall was excited to spend the holidays with his friends. This year had been shit, and it’ll be nice to wrap it up with the people that matter most. He made his way towards the building, humming and spinning the keys around his finger, when someone nudged him and asked if he had a light.

“Oh yeah, sure! Lemme just-“

But, the minute he looked down, he felt the first blow. One hit his stomach, another pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, while another punched his jaw. Niall could taste his blood and started to fight back, but two others came from nowhere and held his hands behind him while the rest of the people continued to beat him, punching everything and anything within reach. Merry Christmas.

~

“This sucks.” Louis announced, sitting back on the counter.

“What, having no power on Chrismtas Eve?” Liam asked from his spot on the couch.

“No. Well, yes. But no. How I used to be on top of the world and ever since, well _you know_ , I’ve been stuck in this rut and I get nothing done and I feel bloody invalid, you know?” Louis admitted. Liam, on the other hand, was just trying to stay warm.

“It’ _freezing!”_ iam cried.

“Thanks, mate. Really supportive.”

“Anytime.” Liam said, getting up to grab old scripts.

“If you’re planning on burning those, I have some failed songs in the corner over there.”  
“Cheers” Liam said, going to grab the papers and throwing them all in the bin. Louis watched as he lit the match, the flames dancing in Liam’s chestnut eyes, and dropped it in, setting fire to their once-valid dreams and ambitions.

“Wait,” Louis said, making Liam’s head pop up.

“Where’s Niall?”

~

“Getting beaten up on Christmas Eve was not the original plan” Niall muttered to himself, limping to a nearby alley and collapsing against the wall. “Some welcome back, innit?”

~

“Li, what’s that?” Louis asked, jumping off of the counter and running for the balcony, Liam not far behind.

It looked like everyone was on their balconies burning their “ **EVICTION OR PAY”** otices. It was clear that absolutely no one was having it, which made Liam and Louis smile and run back in to find more papers to burn. Mid-stride, Louis stopped and looked longingly at the burning bin.

“How can you leave the past behind when it keeps finding ways to get to your heart?” Louis asked, tears in his eyes.

“Deep, Lou” Liam muttered, picking up some discarded papers.

“Seriously, Liam! It reaches way down deep and tears you inside out ‘til you’re torn apart.”

“Is this about Stan?”

“Of course it fucking is.” Louis choked, a tear escaping and running down his cheek.

~

It was pure madness when Simon Cowell pulled up to the building--his building. There were glowing papers cast into the wind and, when one landed on his windshield, he noticed that they were the eviction papers. Typical. He scoffed, getting out of his car and throwing the paper off of his car.

“We’re not gonna pay last years Rent!” Someone shouted

“This years Rent!” came another voice

“Next years Rent!” came another.

“We’re not gonna pay Rent!” Came yet another.

Not the reaction he was expecting when he pulled up into his former stomping ground, but Simon couldn’t ask for much else considering he cut their power. It wasn’ _his_ ault, therefore the tenants had no right to be angry with him.

“Get the hell off my car!” Simon screamed at a homeless looking man. Clearly he was trying to steal the car and would run off with it the second Simon turned around. Clearly.

“That attitude towards the homeless i _exactly_ hat Danielle is protesting, Simon!” A voice calls. This voice, however, Simon knew all too well.

“She’s just angry because she lost her space. Come down here, we need to talk” Simon called to Liam and Louis, who were giving him dirty looks from up above. How poetic.

~

“The hell does he want with us?” Liam asked, pushing off from the balcony.

“Who knows” Louis said, leaving to join him. Just as he lifted his hand, he saw a flash of sparkling green from the corner of his eye. Leaning over the balcony, he locked eyes with a beautiful boy with curls and green eyes, smoking a cigarette. Louis felt his breathless, the boy smiled.

~

“So, Mr. Ex Roomate” Liam said, shoving the camera into Simons face, “How can you sleep at night knowing that you’re evicting all of these peopl _just_ o you could build a, what was it Lou?” Liam asked, turning to Louis.

“A cyber-studio” Louis replied, sending Simon a smirk while sitting on the hood of his car.

“Oh yes! A cyber studio!” Liam said, turning the camera back to Simon.

“I’ve just come to collect the rent. Get that thing out of my face, Liam.” Simon said, shoving his hand in front of the camera.

“Rent which we don’t have” Louis said, crossing his legs.

Simon shrugged, going to tear some protest posters off of the wall.

“This needs to stop” He said, shoving a discarded poster into Liams hands.

“Yeah well, you know Dani”

“Always has been a drama queen” Simon muttered, smiling at the poster before crumpling it up.

“Remember the good old days? Us together? Me, You, Louis, Niall, and Danielle. How is she?” Simon asked, leaning against the wall.

“I don’t actually know. Fine, I’m assuming” Liam replied with a somewhat defensive tone.

“Still her manager?” Simon asked.

“Not exactly”

“Still dating her?”

“We broke up.” Liam replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

“She with another guy, then?” Simon asked, a smile spreading across his face.

Louis laughed, “not exactly.”

“What’s his name, then?” Simon inquired.

Liam and Louis shared a quick look before replying, “Eleanor.”

It took Simon a minute to get it, but when he did his eyes widened and he laughed uncontrollably for five minutes.

“Thanks for being so understanding.” Liam muttered.

“You expect sympathy from the guy who shut off our power o _Christmas Eve!_ ” Louis cried, standing up on the car and shouting “Happy Birthday Jesus!”

Liam let out a bark of laughter. Louis smiled. Simon looked angry.

“What happened to you, Si?”  Liam muttered.

“I grew up” Simon replied curtly.

“Fuck you” Louis said, getting off of the car and starting towards the building.

“Wait, I have a proposition for you.” Simon called.

“What is it this time?” Liam cried, turning around.

“Convince Danielle to cancel her protest and you won’t have to pay any more rent. You’ll be golden.”

He was answered with two middle fingers.

~

Zayn was drumming in the streets, as he did every Christmas and most days, when he heard someone coughing. He stopped, lifting his drumsticks from the empty overturned tins, listening for the noise again. The coughing continued. Intrigued, Zayn put down the sticks and made his way to the alleyway. Sure enough, there was someone curled into a ball by the side of the wall, who Zayn ran to immediately.

“What happened? You okay?” Zayn asked, eyes scanning over the boy next to him.

“Oh yeah, I’m fine” He replied, giving Zayn a bloody smile.

“Can I get you anything?” Zayn asked, hoping that the boy would take him up on it.

“I don’t have any money and they took my stuff” The boy shrugged.

Zayn reached into his back pocket, pulling out a rag, and tried to wipe the dried blood off of the boy’s forehead. The boy shooed him off.

“I’m Zayn”

“Zayn” the boy repeated, “Friends call me Niall. Niall Horan”

Zayn smiled, feeling warmth spread throughout his body when Niall smiled back.

“Let’s get you cleaned up, yeah?” Zayn offered, tucking his arms under Nialls and lifting him up, making Niall groan. They pulled themselves together though, Niall leaning on Zayn for support.

“I sort of have to hurry, I have a life support meeting to get to” Zayn admitted.

“Life support?” Niall questioned.

“Yeah it’s for people with aids. Like me”

Niall looked slightly taken aback, but quickly recovered with a “Me too. Ha, me too.”

~

“I’m going out to look for Niall, thinking maybe we’d get some Christmas Dinner afterwards. Coming?” Liam asked, pulling on his jacket.

“As if I could afford dinner, Li. I’m as broke as they get. Plus, I’d rather sulk” Louis answered, picking up his guitar and plucking some strings.

“Alright, I’ll try to be back soon.” Liam started, going towards the door, “Take your medicine.” He said, then left, leaving Louis to his thoughts.

Suddenly, the room started closing in on him and Louis felt like he couldn’t breathe, so he grabbed his guitar and started for the roof. The roof was always a good place to think, full of fresh air and distracting noise. Thankfully the lawn chair Louis placed on the roof over the summer was still there, so he made his way towards it and sat down.

Christmas time had been hard for Louis the past few years. He and Stan would buy cheap beards and scare the crap out of Liam Christmas morning. But that was then, Stan was gone and Louis was left in his lonesome.

Louis was once on top of the world, of his world really. He had his guitar, his voice, and people liked him. He was playing a gig in a club downtown one night when he locked eyes with a boy by the speakers, a boy with brown straight hair, blue eyes, and a smile that could light up a room. After Louis finished playing, he bought Stan a drink and they sat at the bar for hours, listening and learning and laughing. They fell in love almost instantly. They were the type of couple that held hands and shared drinks and kisse _everywhere_ nd Louis felt like he was flying, soaring and nothing could bring him down. Until something did. Until Stan started doing drugs, getting them from sketchy people who dealt in parks during the day becaus _who did that?_ ouis held his hand when Stan shot up behind a club that night, using a dirty needle. It was fine, Stan said, he’d be fine. But he wasn’t. Stan tested for HIV and the results came back positive, horribly positive. Stan lasted a few months, luckily enough. Some said that he was lucky that he lasted that long, with a case like his. After a particularly bad day, Louis remembered crawling into bed and kissing a very sick and tired Stan goodnight. When he woke up the next morning, Stan was already gone.

Louis shook his head, as if the action would throw the upsetting thoughts from his mind and into the open air. He sighed, picking up his guitar and heading back in.

~

Harry was wandering the halls, contemplating going to that boys apartment, the one form earlier with the hair and the gorgeous cheekbones. Luckily, he saw the very same boy trudging down the stairs and into his apartment _Fair enough_ Harry thought, blowing out his candle.

~

_Knock knock_

Louis sighed, making his way towards the door.

“What’d you forget?” Louis asked, thinking it was Liam at the door.  But it wasn’t. It was the boy from the balcony with the cigarette and the hair and the eyes and Louis felt his heart skip a beat.

The boy smirked and held up a candle, “got a light?”

Louis looked at him questioningly, “I know you…you’re shivering.” Louis said, stepping aside so the boy could walk into the apartment. Louis couldn’t help but rake his eyes over the boys body, all lithe and lean an _young_ The boy turned around and smirked, apparently noticing that he was being watched.

“Yeah, no heat and all. And I’m a bit ill.” The boy replied, walking towards Louis, “Will you light my candle?”

Louis shrugged off his jacket and wrapped it around the boy, who sighed in relief. Louis couldn’t help but notice the strong muscles in his shoulders, and the way his cheeks dimpled when he noticed Louis staring. Again.

“What’re you staring at? Something on my face?” The boy asked, bringing his hands up to his cheeks and rubbing furiously.

Louis couldn’t help but laugh, “No, no. Your eyes…you look familiar…” he said, pulling out a match to light the boys’ candle. Just blew out the match, the boy started swaying. Louis caught him just in time.

“You okay?” He asked.

“Yeah, at least the room stopped spinning, right?” The boy said, smiling. “What?”

“Nothing, your smile reminded me-“

The boy laughed, “I always remind people of, who is he?”

“He died” Louis said curtly, “His name was Stan.”

He missed the boy blow out the candle, though.

“Sorry mate. Will you light my candle” He repeated, coming up to stand right in front of Louis, who willingly obliged. The candle was lit and Louis locked eyes with the boy yet again. His eyes were like emeralds, with hints of gold and bronze running through. Absolutely breathtaking.

“Well” Louis said, breathing out slowly.

“Yeah?” The boy said, the corner of his mouth sneaking up into a smile. “Ouch!” He suddenly said, pulling back.

“The wax,” Louis noticed. It was dripping down the boys fingers, slowly and languidly and beautifully.

“It’s dripping” the boy observed, full on smiling now, “I like it between my-“

“Fingers.” Louis cut him off, not wanting to hear the rest of the sentence, “yeah, goodnight” Louis said, starting to turn away. The boy frowned, giving Louis his coat back and making his way towards the door. Suddenly, he stopped, candle out again, and knocked.

“Candle out?”

The boy turned around looking quite panicked, “I think I dropped my stash…” he said, walking back into the apartment.

“I’ve seen you before. Out, I mean. When I used to go out…” Louis started, “Candle’s out” he noted.

“Is it on the floor?” The boy asked, dropping to his knees to look under the table. “The floor?” Louis asked incredulously, dropping to the floor himself. Louis couldn’t help but take note in the way the boys back curved and how his bum looked in the air. A nice view, Louis wasn’t complaining.

“They say that I have the best ass around, is it true?” The boy asked, startling Louis.

“What?”

“Staring again” The boy said, turned back to the floor. Louis coul _hear_ he smirk in his voice.

“Oh I mean you do have a nice, I mean. You look familiar.” Louis started again, intent on learning where the hell he knew this boy from.

“Like your dead boyfriend” The boy noted.

“Only when you smile but I’m sure I’ve seen you somewhere else”

The boy huffed, crawling around to the other side of the table.

“I dance at the cat scratch club. That’s where I work, I dance”

“Yes!” Louis cheered, “They used to tie you up.”

The boy looked at him, clearly unamused, “It’s a living.”

“I didn’t recognize you without the handcuffs,” Louis teased.

The boy suddenly turned around and crawled right up to Louis.

“We could light the candle,” he said, his eyes dancing with mirth and desire, “Oh won’t you light my candle?” He asked through hooded eyes.

Louis scoffed, pulling a match out of his back pocket and relighting the candle. Then, he remembered why they were on the floor in the first place.

“You should forget that stuff, you look like you’re 16!” Louis said, standing up and putting a bit of distance between them. The boy followed, standing up himself.

“I’m 19! But I’m old for my age. I was born to be bad,” he teased, winking and shaking his hips as he walked to the other side of the couch.

“I once was too, but it gets old.” Louis said. The boy scoffed.

“I just like to feel good,” The boy said, lifting up the corner of the carpet.  
Louis caught sight of the bag out of the corner of his eye and quickly dipped down to put it in his pocket. The boy, of course, took notice and tried to grab it from him, resulting in them awkwardly dancing for a minute.

The boy pushed Louis onto the couch and, weirdly enough, noted that his candle was out.

“That was my last match” Louis said, smirking. The boy sighed, chucking his candle and climbing over Louis to sit on the side of the couch.

“Thank god for the moon, then” he muttered.

“Maybe it’s not the moon at all.”

“Bahumbug” The boy said, tangling their fingers together.

“Cold hands” Louis noted.

“Yours too,” The boy said.

They sat like that for a minute, basking in the sunlight and bathing in each others energy. They were strangers, mere strangers, and Louis already felt his heart tug in want for the boy. Something he hadn’t felt since Stan and something he wasn’t willing to feel again. The boy, however, had other plans.

“Wanna dance?” He asked, getting up from the couch and pulling Louis up with him.

“With you?” Louis teased, letting himself be pulled.

The boy smiled, turning his back towards Louis and putting his back to Louis’ front, and started grinding on him. Louis suddenly felt overwhelmed with want and desire, so he pulled back and turned the boy around.

“I’m Louis”

The boy smiled, “They call me Harry” and, with a smirk, Harry pulled the baggie from Louis’ pocket and left.

**A/N: That’s part one! Part two should be up later this week. Feedback is appreciated!**


End file.
